Psalm 90 asks the Lord to, "teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart."
Todays thought of the day at inward/outward is on that theme. It's called "Coming to Terms With Life"
By Etty Hillesum
"I have come to terms with life - nothing can happen to me, and my personal fate is not the issue…. By ‘coming to terms with life’ I mean: the reality of death has become a definite part of my life; my life has, so to speak, been extended by death, by looking death in the eye and accepting it, by accepting destruction as part of life and no longer wasting my energies on fear of death or the refusal to acknowledge its inevitability. It sounds paradoxical: by excluding death from our life we cannot live a full life, and by admitting death into our life we enlarge and enrich it."
Source: An Interrupted Life: the Journal of a Young Jewish Woman, 1941-1943
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Here's the whole text of Psalm 90 from Oremus Bible Browser, in case your are interested.
Psalm 90 - A Prayer of Moses, the man of God
Lord, you have been our dwelling-place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You turn us back to dust,
and say, ‘Turn back, you mortals.’
For a thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday when it is past,
or like a watch in the night.
You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning;
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
For we are consumed by your anger;
by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
For all our days pass away under your wrath;
our years come to an end like a sigh.
The days of our life are seventy years,
or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger?
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you.
So teach us to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.
Turn, O Lord! How long?
Have compassion on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be manifest to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
and prosper for us the work of our hands—
O prosper the work of our hands!
*NRSV
The Virginia Tech tragedy occurred the day I posted this, and I've considered taking it down for fear that someone might think I was trying to make a comment related to that terribly sad event. That is not the case. I wrote this post early in the morning before I heard any news about the people who were killed that day.
All I can say is that I am very sorry for anyone who lost a loved one, friend, teacher, family member, fellow student or aquaintance on that day.
